37,000m of elevation gain in two weeks – How super talent Paul Seixas is ramping up his training ahead of highly anticipated Tour de France debut

Ahead of one of the most anticipated Tour de France debuts in recent memory, 19-year-old French super talent Paul Seixas has been ramping up his training, taking in 1,489km and more than 37,000 metres of elevation gain at altitude camp in the past two weeks.

In 12 days, Seixas will return to racing for the first time since he almost pushed Tadej Pogačar past his limits at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, at what was the Critérium du Dauphiné – now renamed the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – as part of his final build-up for the Tour.

Seixas has been alongside several Decathlon CMA CGM teammates during his time in the Sierra Nevada in Spain, such as Leo Bisaux, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Nicolas Prodhomme, Matthew Riccitello and Stefan Bissegger.

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Over the 13 days of training so far, Seixas has logged rides as short as 24.7km on his Strava profile, but as long as 231.61km last Saturday on a brutal seven-hour day at an average speed of 32.7km, where he and four teammates completed 5,092m of elevation gain.

There have been two 'rest' days so far, although he has ridden his bike on those days, and up significant climbs. As well as the monster ride on Saturday, there was a double session on May 19, with two separate rides on the same day totalling 161.76 km and almost 5,000 metres of elevation gain.

For comparison to Seixas' training load, across the three weeks of racing at the Giro that Vingegaard is 15 stages into, 3,459km will be raced, with 49,150 metres of elevation along the way.

Despite his age, Seixas has long been training as an elite senior rider would, and it's clear to see how his professionalism as a teenager has stood him in good stead to be already performing alongside the best riders in the world.

Seixas' training camp so far

The next step in a meteoric rise

Having taken a massive step up at the backend of last season, finishing on the podium of the European Championships road race behind only Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, Seixas has only kicked on into his second year on Decathlon's WorldTour team.

He's won a stage of the Volta ao Algarve, the Faun-Ardèche Classic, three stages and the overall at Itzulia Basque Country, and La Flèche Wallonne, alongside finishing as runner-up behind Pogačar at Strade Bianche and Liège.

Seixas will have a great chance to test himself at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, albeit without any of the main favourites for the Tour set to start in the prestigious French one-week race. Pogačar is instead racing the Tour de Suisse, Jonas Vingegaard is currently racing and winning the Giro d'Italia, Evenepoel is opting for a longer training block over racing, and Florian Lipowitz is taking on the Tour of Slovenia as his final Tour prep.

Pogačar's UAE teammates and expected superdomestiques for the Tour, Isaac del Toro and João Almeida, will likely start the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as Seixas' main competitors, alongside one of their former teammates, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), for what should be eight days of great racing decided on the closing two mountain days to the Grand Colombier and Plateau de Solaison.

Seixas at 18 was already among the top riders in last year's edition of the renamed Dauphiné, taking eighth on GC, but his improvement since then has been monumental. While that's mostly been seen as a one-day racer, his complete domination of Itzulia Basque Country suggests he should be the heavy favourite from June 7.

The subsequent debut at the Tour will prove vital for Seixas, not only due to the expectation of the French media and public, after their 40-year wait for a new men's winner, but also because of the implications it should have for his future.

Currently contracted until the end of 2027, Seixas is due to stay at Decathlon until at least January 2028, but every super team in the sport is currently after his signature, which would secure them the current top rising talent in the sport.

Whether anyone can lure him out of his current deal before its conclusion is unknown, but a top performance at his first Tour could well force the biggest players to offer him a massive money deal away from the French squad who have overseen his development.

19-year-olds don't tend to start the Tour this early in their career – Seixas is set to become the youngest rider to start a Tour in 89 years at the Grand Départ in Barcelona – but starting as a potential podium finisher is unheard of. All eyes will be on Seixas come that fateful day, but for the moment, he's ensuring no stone is left unturned in his preparation.